1.HCI Human Models Computer Science

Human
Human Models, Senses and Memory

Conceptual Model and Mental Model
H. C. So Page 1 Semester A, 2008

Why Study Human?
We are the users
When we try to understand something, particularly new,

we use a combination of
What our senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste)
are telling
Past experience
Our expectations
e.g., When we browse a new Web, our past experience
tells us that underlined blue text is supposed to be a link
e.g., When we are given a new product with buttons, we
expect that it is operated by pressing the buttons
Human Model
Modelled as information processing system
Stage 1: encode information (sight, hearing, touch,

smell, taste) from environment into internal
representation
Stage 2: internal representation of the stimuli is
compared with the memorized representations in brain
Stage 3 is concerned with deciding on a response to
encoded stimulus
Stage 4 deals with organization of response &
necessary action
Human Model
Card, Moran & Newell's Model:
Comprise 3 interacting
systems:
Perceptual system consists of
sensors & associated buffer
memories:
Visual image store
Auditory image store
Cognitive system consists of
short-term & long-term
memories
Motor system carries out response formulated by
cognitive system

Human Senses
The five senses are:
Sight
Hearing
Touch
Smell
Taste
They can interact with computing systems:
Input to Human Output from Human
Vision Speech
Audition Motor Control
Balance Biometrics, e.g., fingerprint
Olfaction
Touch
Vision
Eye
Mechanism for
receiving light &
transforming it
into electrical
energy
Light reflects from
objects; their
images are
focused upside
down on retina
Retina contains
Fovea: colour vision, pattern detection
Outer part: sensitive to light, movement detection
Vision
Design implication:
A user concentrating on the middle of the screen cannot
be expected to read text on the bottom line because
outer part is not good for pattern detection
⇒ If we want a user to see an error message at the

bottom of the screen, since the outer part is capable for
change detection, the message should be flashing
Constructivism
A theory about vision is constructivism:
Our brains do not create pixel-by-pixel images
Our minds create, or construct, models that summarize
what comes from our senses
These models are what we perceive
When we see something, we do not remember all the
details, only those that have meaning for us
Design implication:
Do not expect people “see” all the details of an interface
because people filter out irrelevant information and
save only the important ones
How many links are there on left hand side of
http://www.cityu.edu.hk ?
Constructivism
Constructivist theory states that context plays a major
role in what we see in an image
What do you see?

Constructivism
Why we cannot see it at first?
The image is too blurry
We had no idea what to expect because there was no
context
Now we have context, we can recognize easily next time
Are these letters the same?

Constructivism
With context, the answer will be different:
Design implication:
Context can help in resolving ambiguity

Constructivism
HEAD or HERO?

Constructivism
Another concept from constructivism: images are
partitioned into
Figure (i.e., foreground)
Ground (i.e., background)
Sometimes figure and ground are ambiguous
Example:
A person who sells flowerpots
may see a vase while
a person who likes observing
people’s faces may see two faces

Gestalt Psychology
Main idea: We do not see things in isolation, but as
parts of a whole
We organize things into meaningful units using
Proximity: we group by distance or location
Similarity: we group by type
Symmetry: we group by meaning
Continuity: we group by flow of lines (alignment)
Closure: we perceive shapes that are not (completely)
there

Gestalt Psychology
Principle of proximity
Example:
We tend to perceive any closely clustered objects as a

group

Gestalt Psychology
Horizontal proximity Vertical proximity

Gestalt Psychology
Design implication:
Use proximity to group related things

Gestalt Psychology
Improved version:

Gestalt Psychology
Principle of similarity: Objects that have similar visual
characteristics, such as size, shape or colour will be seen
as a group
Rows of similar Columns of similar Grouped

objects objects columns

Gestalt Psychology
Design implication:
Use similarity to make menu options the same size:

Gestalt Psychology
Improved version:
Apart from size, other similarity hints include shape,

texture, boldness, etc.,
Gestalt Psychology
Principle of symmetry: we use our experience and
expectations to make groups of things
We see two triangles We see three groups of paired

square brackets

Gestalt Psychology
Principle of continuity: we group by flow of lines, that is,
we tend to see things as smooth, continuous
representations rather than abrupt changes
We see curves AB and CD, We see two rows of circles,

not AC and DB, and not AD and BC not two L-shaped groups

Gestalt Psychology
Which is better? (a) or (b)?
(a) (b)

Gestalt Psychology
Design implication:
Use alignment to improve layout

Gestalt Psychology
An improved version:

Gestalt Psychology
Can be further improved:

Gestalt Psychology
Principle of closure: we mentally “fill in the blanks”
Examples:
All are seen as circles although they are not exactly

Gestalt Psychology
Any Gestalt’s principles have been applied in the

above two figures?
Gestalt Psychology
Any Gestalt’s principles have been applied?

Reading Speed/Accuracy
Speed of reading:
Word shape is important to recognition
Which one is more easier to recognize?
INTRODUCTION Introduction
Counter example: it is
difficult for us to
detect errors, if any
(Ming Pao, 2001,
appeared several
times with no error
correction)

Reading Speed/Accuracy
For font size, 9 to 12 points are good and similar
For text width, 2.3 and 5.2 inches are good and similar

Hearing
Human can hear frequencies from 20Hz to 15kHz
Less accurate in distinguishing high frequencies than
low frequencies
Auditory system filters sounds - can attend to sounds
over background noise/interference. For example, we
can talk with our friend in a very noisy Chinese
restaurant (Cocktail party phenomenon)
Apart from hearing sound, our ears are capable to get
the distances and directions of the sound sources

Touch
Key sense for visually impaired persons
Aspects include

Touch
Productivity can be affected by our position as well as
our feeling of the contacting equipment, e.g., a chair
From http://www.lamex.com.hk :
“A healthy office chair, one

that is ergonomically
designed can do so much
for the user as well as for
the company. An employee
who is healthy takes less
time off work and while at
work is more productive…”

Movement
Time taken to respond to stimulus: reaction time +
movement time
Reaction time - depend on stimulus type

Visual - 200ms
Auditory - 150ms
Pain - 700ms
Combined signal will result in faster response
Movement time - dependent on age, fitness, etc.
↓ reaction time ↓ accuracy in unskilled operator but not

in skilled operator
Movement
Fitts' law describes the average time taken to hit a

screen target:
TM = a + b log2(D/S + 1)
where
a & b are constants determined experimentally
TM is movement time (in ms)
D is Distance
S is Size
⇒ Targets in general should be large as possible &
the distances as small as possible
Movement
Example:
Suppose for a 15-inch flat panel display, the average
distance the cursor between the menu bars is 80 mm
Size of menu bar - Macintosh: 50 mm & Windows:
5mm
a=50, b=150
Calculated time to move the cursor to a menu item on
Macintosh
TM = 50 + 150 log2(80/50 + 1) = 256 ms
For Windows,
TM = 50 + 150 log2(80/5 + 1) = 663 ms

Movement
When there are multiplicity of choices, we need to
choose the appropriate target prior to moving the cursor:
Required time to choose can be described by Hick’s law:

TC = a + b log2(N+1)
where N is number of options and the probabilities of
taking each alternative are equal
Memory
3 types of memory model
Sensory memory (vs I/O buffer)
Hold data received from external world
Short-term or working memory (vs RAM)
Where information is processed
Long-term memory (vs hard disk)
Hold information for long time, although not all
information can be retrieved evenly

Memory
Sensory memory acts as buffers for stimuli received via
senses
Constantly overwritten
Information passes from sensory to short-term memory
by attention (e.g., you are constantly seeing but you
will not pay attention to all things you see)
Attention or selection of stimuli is governed by level of
interest or need
e.g., cocktail party phenomenon: we can attend to one
conversation over background noise but we may choose
to switch our attention to another conversation if we
hear our name mentioned
Memory
Short-term memory (STM) is used for temporary recall
of information
Rapid access - 70ms
Rapid decay - 200ms
Limited capacity - 7 +/- 2 digits or chunks
Long-term memory (LTM) is the main resource for all

our knowledge
Slow access - 100 ms
Slow decay, if any
Huge or unlimited capacity

Memory
Memory capacity can be improved via:
Chunking
Let people recognize information rather than recall it
How many chunks in the following?
85227887780
The chunks can be 852, 2, 7, 8, 8, 7, 7, 8, 0 ⇒ 9 chunks
How about this?
852 2788 7780
There are now 3 chunks: 852, 2788, 7780
However, sometimes we cannot do chunking, e.g., can
you remember:
vsdfnjejn7dknsdnd33s
Memory
Design implication:
Facilitate users to do chunking, e.g., make your URL
easy for chunking:
www.bestbookbuys.com
The chunks are:
www.
best
book
buys
.com
Another application is to use chunking in memorizing
phone number, 2788, 7780 (although 27, 887, 780 is
possible)
Memory
Recognition versus Recall:
Is my telephone number 2788 7780?
What is my telephone number?
Which one does not belong to Norman’s usability
principles?
A. Affordance
B. Constraints
C. Flexibility
D. Feedback
E. None of the above
State Norman’s usability principles.
Multiple choice: you can recognize the answer
Essay: you must recall the answer
Memory
Design implication:
Design systems that rely on people’s ability to recognize
information rather than forcing them to recall it, in
order to reducing user’s memory burden
e.g., a computer with a GUI allows us to recognize

commands on a menu, instead of remembering them as
in DOS and UNIX

Reasoning
Three forms of reasoning:
1. Deductive reasoning
Derive logically necessary conclusion from given
premises
e.g., If it is Friday then she will go to work
⇒ It is Friday. Therefore she will go to work
Logical conclusion not necessarily true:
e.g., If it is raining then the ground is dry
⇒ It is raining. Therefore the ground is dry
⇒ It is valid deduction but not true
Human deduction poor when truth & validity clash

Reasoning
2. Inductive reasoning
Generalise from cases seen to cases unseen
e.g., All elephants we have seen have trunks
therefore all elephants have trunks.
Unreliable: can only prove false not true.
However, humans are not good at using negative
evidence e.g., Wason's cards

Reasoning
Wason’s cards: each card has a number on one side and
a letter on the other
Statement “if a card has a vowel on one side it has an
even number on the other side”
4 E 7 K
Which card(s) would you need to pick up to check
this statement?

Reasoning
Most people: E & 4
In fact, we need to check E & 7 4 K

E 7
Q“If A, then B.”
⇔ “If NOT B then NOT A.”
(a) E (to check if A then B)

(b) 7 (to check if NOT B then NOT A)
(c) 4 (to check if B then what)
(d) K (to check if NOT A then what )
(c) & (d) are no use for checking the statement.

Reasoning
How about if the condition “each card has a
number on one side and a letter on the other” is
not stated? Which card(s) would you need to pick
up to check the statement?
Design implication:
Avoid negative evidence, e.g., If not Exit, don’t press “X”
3. Abductive reasoning
Reasoning from event to cause
e.g., Sam drives fast when drunk
If see Sam driving fast, assume drunk
Unreliable: can lead to false explanations.
e.g., Sam may need to do an emergency matter
Conceptual Model
It is a high-level description of how a system is
organized and operates
It outlines what people can do with a product and what
concepts are needed to understand how to interact
with it
If the conceptual model meets the user’s intention, this
implies that the user will use the system easily.
How to develop a conceptual model?
Identify user’s needs and system requirements
Identify a set of possible ways of interactions
Select suitable metaphors and analogies

Conceptual Model
A classic example is the Star interface by Xerox

Conceptual Model
Targeted for workers not interested in computing –
make the computer as “invisible” to the users as
possible and to design applications suitable to them
Based on an analogy to a physical office
Metaphors: paper, folders, filing cabinets and
mailboxes were represented as icons on the screen and
were designed to possess some of their properties of
their physical counterparts
Concepts: Dragging an electronic document onto an
electronic folder was seen as being analogous to
placing a physical document into a physical cabinet;
Placing an electronic file onto the printer icon would
print it out
Conceptual Model
Consider a company that wants to develop a wireless
information system to help tourists with personal
digital assistants (PDAs) in Hong Kong.
How to develop a conceptual model for this

system?
What questions should we ask in developing the

conceptual model?

Conceptual Model
Suggestions:
Who are they? Chinese or English speaking foreigners?
What do tourists want? Information.
How to get from airport to downtown?
Where is a good Chinese restaurant?
How to support the activity of requesting information
in the optimum way? A menu system or voice
command activated system? Provide a system that
structures information in the form of lists, maps,
recommendations, etc.?
Concepts??
Mental Model
Don Norman’s definition: “the model people have of
themselves, others, the environment, & the things with
which they interact. People form mental models
through experience, training & instruction”
An internal representation of a user’s current
conceptualization and understanding of a system
Knowledge developed in learning & using a system –
How to use it? How it works?
e.g., Make a phone call:
Pick up the phone
Dial the number I want to call
Hear the phone on the other end ringing
The person at the other end answers
Mental Model
Mental models are:
Unscientific—They are often based on guesswork and
approximations
Partial—They do not necessarily describe whole
systems, just the aspects that are relevant to the
persons who formulate them
Unstable—They are not concrete formulations, but
evolve and adapt to the context
Inconsistent—They do not necessarily form a cohesive
whole; some parts may be incompatible with other
parts of the same model
Personal—They are specific to each individual and are
not universal concepts that can be applied generally
Mental Model
Help to predict the operation of an unknown/unfamilar
system
e.g., in an unfamiliar flat, we guess the light should be
turned on using the nearest switch
Users always have mental models & always develop &
modify them, regardless of the particular design of a
system
By studying how people create mental models of
interactive systems and by designing interactive
systems that help the user create a more accurate
mental model of the system, usability will improve.
Successful interface is built when
our conceptual model agrees with user’s mental model

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Human

 Human Models, Senses and Memory

H. C. So Page 1 Semester A, 2008

When we try to understand something, particularly new,

 Stage 1: encode information (sight, hearing, touch,

H. C. So Page 4 Semester A, 2008

⇒ If we want a user to see an error message at the

H. C. So Page 9 Semester A, 2008

H. C. So Page 10 Semester A, 2008

H. C. So Page 11 Semester A, 2008

H. C. So Page 12 Semester A, 2008

H. C. So Page 13 Semester A, 2008

H. C. So Page 14 Semester A, 2008

We tend to perceive any closely clustered objects as a

H. C. So Page 15 Semester A, 2008

Horizontal proximity Vertical proximity

H. C. So Page 16 Semester A, 2008

H. C. So Page 17 Semester A, 2008

H. C. So Page 18 Semester A, 2008

Rows of similar Columns of similar Grouped

H. C. So Page 19 Semester A, 2008

H. C. So Page 20 Semester A, 2008

Apart from size, other similarity hints include shape,

We see two triangles We see three groups of paired

H. C. So Page 22 Semester A, 2008

We see curves AB and CD, We see two rows of circles,

H. C. So Page 23 Semester A, 2008

H. C. So Page 24 Semester A, 2008

H. C. So Page 25 Semester A, 2008

H. C. So Page 26 Semester A, 2008

H. C. So Page 27 Semester A, 2008

All are seen as circles although they are not exactly

Any Gestalt’s principles have been applied in the

Any Gestalt’s principles have been applied?

H. C. So Page 31 Semester A, 2008

H. C. So Page 32 Semester A, 2008

H. C. So Page 33 Semester A, 2008

H. C. So Page 34 Semester A, 2008

“A healthy office chair, one

H. C. So Page 35 Semester A, 2008

 Reaction time - depend on stimulus type

 Movement time - dependent on age, fitness, etc.

 ↓ reaction time ↓ accuracy in unskilled operator but not

Fitts' law describes the average time taken to hit a

H. C. So Page 38 Semester A, 2008

Required time to choose can be described by Hick’s law:

H. C. So Page 40 Semester A, 2008

 Long-term memory (LTM) is the main resource for all

H. C. So Page 42 Semester A, 2008

e.g., a computer with a GUI allows us to recognize

H. C. So Page 46 Semester A, 2008

H. C. So Page 47 Semester A, 2008

H. C. So Page 48 Semester A, 2008

H. C. So Page 49 Semester A, 2008

In fact, we need to check E & 7 4 K

(a) E (to check if A then B)

(c) & (d) are no use for checking the statement.

H. C. So Page 50 Semester A, 2008

H. C. So Page 52 Semester A, 2008

H. C. So Page 53 Semester A, 2008

How to develop a conceptual model for this

What questions should we ask in developing the

H. C. So Page 55 Semester A, 2008

Human Models, Senses and Memory

Stage 1: encode information (sight, hearing, touch,

Reaction time - depend on stimulus type

Movement time - dependent on age, fitness, etc.

↓ reaction time ↓ accuracy in unskilled operator but not

Long-term memory (LTM) is the main resource for all